The Afghan who shot dead a British soldier on Remembrance Sunday opened fire
at a football match which the allies had been playing in Helmand province,
officials have said

The shooter, named as Mohammad Ashraf, then fled during the chaos prompting a tense search for him through the shared base and at least two more separate exchanges of gunfire before he was hit and arrested.

It was unclear if Ashraf had been a spectator or player in the match, when he opened fire on Sunday afternoon at Patrol Base Shawqat, in Nad-e Ali district, said Maj Adam Wojack, a spokesman at Nato headquarters in Kabul.

No one was killed in the initial burst of fire, but a soldier from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, died during a second exchange as troops hunted for the shooter.

The soldier’s family have been informed and he is expected to be named later today. Nato officials would not say how many more were wounded. Afghan officials had initially put the death toll at three.

Ashraf, originally from Panjshir province north of Kabul, fled again after shooting the soldier and was then shot himself in a third clash.

Early reports had been unclear if the attacker was a genuine member of the Afghan army, or an infiltrator, but Afghan military officials have now confirmed he was a soldier.

Gen Syed Malook Safi of the Afghan army’s 215 Maiwand Corps said Ashraf had been posted to Helmand two and a half months ago.

He said: “They were having some kind of football match. The British and Afghan soldiers do this sometimes when they have finished their work.”

He said Ashraf had suffered from some kind of “mental problems”, without elaborating what they were.

Ashraf’s home province, Panjshir, is renowned for its resistance to the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s and then to the Taliban during the 1990s.

Sunday’s death occurred just hours after simple Remembrance Sunday services were held in Kabul and at bases in Helmand, including at Camp Bastion and British headquarters in Lashkar Gah.

At least 12 British troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year alone, with other deaths still under investigation.

The spate of deaths, which have increased dramatically this year, have sown deep distrust between foreign forces and the Afghan forces they are supposed to be training and supporting.

At least 54 members of the Nato-led coalition have in such attacks in 2012. The attacks have been corrosive to domestic support for the campaign among alliance members and led France to withdraw its combat contingent a year early.

Measures to stem the attacks, including re-vetting Afghan personnel, scaling back joint patrols and posting “guardian angel” sentries to watch out for potential assassins, have failed to prevent the deaths.

Major Laurence Roche, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: ''I am very sorry to report the death of a soldier from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, who was shot by an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform at his base in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province.

''This is incredibly sad news for the battalion and everyone serving in Task Force Helmand.”